Kingsport’s good old-boy network – you help my cause and I’ll help yours
Kingsport, it’s seems likes to talk about all the success that it is experiencing, but one needs to ask the question, if Kingsport is doing all that well, then why don’t they use some of that money from that success and pay for projects instead of borrowing money.
It appears that this ramped up spinning started the day that Eastman Chemical announced the $100 million cost reduction. Part of this cost reduction was that no Eastman Chemical employee would get wage/salary increases in 2009.
There has been many newspaper articles about this success lately and the Kingsport Times-News has announced that there will be many more to come. Some of the newspaper articles are poorly researched and it is very clear to this blogger, that the author of the newspaper is not doing investigative reporting. It appears that the newspaper is taking the City of Kingsport word as the gospel.
An example of spinning data was reported by Jeff Fleming, Kingsport Assistant City Manager, that the Kingsport area (Sullivan County) had the 3rd best unemployment rate in Tennessee. What Jeff Fleming conveniently failed to do is mention that the City of Kingsport rate was 7.2 percent. You can check it out yourself by going to the link: Kingsport Area = 3rd Lowest Unemployment in Tennessee. The first part of the post that Jeff Fleming is the press release from the State of Tennessee. The percentages posted at the bottom are from Jeff Fleming’s selected extraction of data from the Tennessee numbers. Also, see previous post on a citizen reaction to City of Kingsport claims and Tennessee – November 2008 Unemployment rate for Tri-Cities area.
There may be a concern in the City of Kingsport about the public perception of the Tax, Borrow, and Spend label that has been given to city leaders. It is quite possible that the “spin” the city has been doing lately is to justify all the spending.
Also, it is an election year where four Board of Mayor and Alderman positions are up for grabs.
The Kingsport Times-News is a willing participant in the spin on how great things are going. But, one needs to look at the role of the top two management positions at the newspaper. Keith Wilson who is the publisher and Ted Como as editor are not exactly innocent and unbiased bystanders.
These two newspaper people are deeply involved with the City of Kingsport and economic development in the region. You could do a goggle search on Keith Wilson and Ted Como to see for yourself their involvement in local government affairs.
It is difficult if not impossible to find a politician, whether early in their career or a political office veteran, who has not given in to political pressure, special interest groups, lobbyists, or the good-old-boy-network practice of you-help-my-cause-and-I’ll-help-yours
There is nothing wrong about talking about success, but please cut out the spinning of data.